Foundation Center Research

Discover the latest data available on U.S. foundation philanthropy. Our research staff analyzes and interprets the data we collect on foundations. Learn about national, regional, international, and special topic trends and get the latest statistics on foundation giving.

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Awareness of the value of data in achieving important social and development goals has been increasing in Ghana in recent years. In 2011, Ghana signed the Open Government Partnership (OGP), a multilateral initiative with aims to secure commitments from governments to promote transparency, fight corruption and harness data and new technology to strengthen governance. The government also created the National Information and Technology Agency (NITA) in 2011 to develop and manage an open government data portal as part of a movement to make government data more available. Over the last few years, NITA has been working towards setting up repositories and portals of government data.
Because existing data initiatives are largely driven by the government, they usually do not take into account data from or about civil society actors. In particular, Ghana lacks a dedicated platform and framework for collecting, sharing, and analyzing data on philanthropy. With this in mind and to address this issue, Foundation Center, in collaboration with SDG Philanthropy Platform and African Philanthropy Network, co-convened a data scoping meeting on October 4, 2017 in Accra. The specific objectives of the data scoping meeting were to:
1. Understand the value and opportunities for advancing the philanthropy data agenda in Ghana.
2. Establish common principles for collaborative data and knowledge management.
3. Identify key data and knowledge challenges and needs.
4. Explore existing technologies for collecting and sharing data and knowledge.
5. Set local data and knowledge goals and priorities.
This report summarizes the outcomes of the data scoping meeting, including highlights from the discussions and key recommendations.

Five years ago, in 2012, the Campaign for Black Male Achievement and Foundation Center published the first report in this series, Where Do We Go From Here?, taking an in-depth look at philanthropic support for Black men and boys. Since then, the landscape of the field has evolved in remarkable and groundbreaking ways. As organizations and philanthropic initiatives have shifted from start-up mode to increasingly mature entities with greater human and financial capacity, the opportunity for sustained impact has never been greater.
In the first section of this report, we revisit funding by U.S. foundations in support of Black men and boys, with a focus on giving in 2013 and 2014, the most recent years for which comprehensive data are available.
Current efforts to advance Black male achievement have coalesced along some shared approaches and values. Foundations, governments, and nonprofits in the field are:
- Changing the narrative to lift up Black men and boys as valuable assets to society;
- Investing in local communities to catalyze sustainable impact at the grassroots level;
- Engaging Black men and boys and their communities in authentic ways to ensure programs and initiatives resonate with their lived experiences;
- Impacting policies and systems to address the adverse effects of structural racism on life outcomes for Black men and boys; and
- Recognizing the intersectional nature of this work to learn from the shared struggles of other marginalized populations and achieve broader social justice goals.
These priorities are not mutually exclusive, and the degree to which they occur collectively will help push the work forward.
With a critical mass of organizations currently working to improve life outcomes for Black men and boys and promising signs of forward progress, this report highlights what it will take to build on recent work to catalyze deeper investments, stronger coordination, and, ultimately, greater impact.

To realize this vision of improved data for deeper philanthropic impact and transparency, WINGS, Foundation Center, CENTRIS, and partners from around the world created and refined the Global Philanthropy Data Charter. The main objective of this revision is to make the document more accessible and provide concrete guidance on how to successfully engage in data-sharing processes.

To better understand the characteristics of member organizations and their social investment priorities, GIFE conducts a biannual survey of its members. This report highlights key findings from the 2017 survey; 116 GIFE members (90% of its 129 members) responded to questions about their 2016 activities. For the purpose of this analysis, data from community foundations have been grouped with responses from independent associations and foundations. All survey data, unless otherwise noted, refer to 2016 and are based on 116 responses. Funding amounts are calculated on a constant 2016 Brazilian Real/US Dollar exchange rate.

Each year, the Center for Disaster Philanthropy and Foundation Center analyze global disaster-related funding from foundations, bilateral and multilateral donors, the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), corporations, and smaller donors who give through donor advised funds and online platforms. We analyze this funding according to a taxonomy that classifies giving by type of disaster and disaster assistance strategy.
Philanthropic funding for disasters and humanitarian crises is situated within a large ecosystem of global aid. While assistance from governments far surpasses funding from foundations, institutional philanthropy still plays an important role. For example, foundations can choose to fill funding gaps and support underfunded areas of the disaster lifecycle. Support for disaster risk reduction and preparedness can mitigate the impact of disasters, and many communities need sustained funding for the long road to recovery. We hope this analysis will aid donors in considering how to maximize the impact of their disaster-related giving.

Community foundations have several attributes that, taken together, distinguish them from many of their philanthropic brethren, including a local orientation, relationships with many living donors, and a public charity tax status. This affects everything from their approach to solving problems to their business model. Because of this, community foundations have sought out support services that are designed for their particular needs. The infrastructure of organizations serving community foundations has evolved, and there has been confusion among community foundations over where to get their needs met and some frustration over the perceived fragmentation of services.
In response to these concerns and to create some clarity, CFLeads and CF Insights, both of which exclusively serve community foundations, decided to map out the current support services and lead a discussion exploring a vision for the future. The findings from a survey of a dozen large community foundations and a one-day symposium are summarized here. Hopefully the results of this partnership provide a better understanding of the ecosystem of organizations serving community foundations and some initial thinking on how to meet needs in the future.

This report presents highlights from Building a Collective Philanthropy Data System, a workshop that took place in Kampala on April 10th 2017. The workshop was the third in a series of meetings that have taken place over the past year in Uganda as part of the Data Strategy and Capacity Building Program, a joint effort led by East Africa Association of Grantmakers (EAAG), Uganda Philanthropy Forum (UPF), DENIVA, and the Independent Development Fund (IDF) along with more than 30 Ugandan philanthropic organizations. The program aims to strengthen the capacity of foundations and trusts to collect, analyze, and share data and knowledge that highlight the value of Ugandan philanthropy to national development outcomes, facilitate philanthropic collaboration, and inform grantmaking and programmatic decisions.
The workshop marked a transition from planning to implementation. It sought to solidify recommendations made in earlier meetings and focused on the development of a prototype philanthropy data portal for Uganda. The group agreed on which specific types of data they were willing to share at this point in time and outlined a proposed structure for the data portal. Having agreement on what information to share and how to structure it was crucial at this stage of the process, as it will serve as a framework for data collection going forward and will ensure that the data that will ultimately be shared is contextually relevant and applicable. Further, the partners continued to develop the strategy for implementing the portal development and the population of its data, and hence agreed on partner roles and concrete next steps.

Giving in Illinois 2017 reveals the scope and giving priorities of the Illinois foundation community.
Illinois foundation giving reached a record $3.8 billion in 2015, more than doubling since 2005. (Adjusted for inflation, giving rose 121 percent.) By comparison, giving by U.S. foundations overall rose 72 percent during this period (or 40 percent after inflation).
The analysis in this report is based on the Foundation Center's 2015 grants set, which includes all of the grants of $10,000 or more reported by 1,000 of the largest U.S. independent, corporate, community, and grantmaking operating foundations by total giving. The sample included 68 Illinois foundations with giving totaling $1.3 billion.

Philanthropy is evolving more quickly than ever with new societal challenges, new players, and new strategies. Funders are seeking to increase their effectiveness, and want clear, practical guidance for getting there. This GrantCraft leadership series paper produced in partnership with Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors (RPA), explores the core frameworks that shape private foundations, and offers a roadmap for funders interested in reflecting on these frameworks to better align purpose, public benefit, and action.

The 2017 Index tracks funding across 23 diverse issue areas, many of which overlap with other sectors, like climate, democracy-building, gender equality, and migration. The existence of peaceful, stable societies is critical to the success of other areas of work: children cannot be educated, health care clinics cannot provide services, and economic development projects will fail if people are experiencing violent conflict in their communities. In other words, peace and security funders are the "ground zero" of the philanthropic community: their work provides a foundation upon which other interventions can blossom and grow.
It is this interconnectedness with other issues that makes peace and security grantmaking ever more important. We hope that foundations, policymakers, and civil society organizations will use the 2017 Index to advocate for increased attention to this fundamental work so we can continue to move towards a more peaceful, secure world for everyone.

This report presents key outcomes from the Uganda Data Strategy and Capacity Building Workshop, held in Kampala on the 5th of December 2016. The workshop brought together local philanthropy stakeholders who participated in a "Data Scoping Meeting" held on the 27th of October 2016, which identified the need to build capacity in data management and explore strategies for developing a collective philanthropy data system for Uganda (For more information, download the meeting report). The Data Strategy and Capacity Building Workshop was hosted by the Uganda National Philanthropy Forum (UPF) in partnership with Foundation Center, East Africa Association of Grantmakers (EAAG), Independent Development Fund (IDF), and Development Network of Indigenous Voluntary Associations (DENIVA).
The ultimate goal of the Data Strategy and Capacity Building work in Uganda is to lay the necessary groundwork for the local philanthropy sector to build and operate its own data collection system. The two workshops held to date provided opportunities for key stakeholders to develop a sense of common purpose around data collection and sharing. The result of the meetings was the creation of an Action Plan that identifies critical areas of work that need to be undertaken by UPF to build a sustainable data collection system and a community of practice committed to its achievement. The elements of the Action Plan are presented in this report, beginning on page 9.

Over the past 10 years, Silicon Valley Community Foundation has grown to become the world's largest community foundation, engaging, empowering, and collaborating with family, individual, and corporate donors to generate positive impact by supporting organizations within and beyond county lines and national borders. SVCF has also become a comprehensive center for philanthropy, engaging as advocates in pursuit of tackling critical public policy issues, partnering with nonprofit groups and institutions who aim to advance ideas and direct resources strategically toward pressing, critical needs, commissioning research to identify emerging issues and anticipate future needs, and launching strategic initiatives in support of the local community.
A combination of stories and data will illustrate how Silicon Valley Community Foundation harnessed a local culture of innovation to become a leader of the field, expanded its reach across the entire globe, and continues to find new ways to generate positive impact.

Since 2006, Philanthropy Northwest has published biennial reports on grantmaking trends for our region -- Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming -- based on the most recent data available from a combination of our membership network, Form 990s and intermediaries. These reports aim to reflect our collective giving, encourage more conversations and help inform your strategies.
For this sixth edition of Trends in Northwest Giving, we are presenting this report in collaboration with Foundation Center, which collects grants data directly from organizations across the Northwest and nationwide. This partnership enables us to tell a story based on a larger pool of funders, in three parts: key findings, based on a snapshot of $1.8 billion granted to our region by more than 4,000 funders in 2014; trends over time, based on a subset of 1,388 funders that reported data for both 2012 and 2014; and state-by-state variations.

This fourth annual report explores 2014 human rights grantmaking by funder, region, issue, population, and strategy. To provide a more complete picture of giving for human rights, this report also includes data on bilateral and multilateral aid. Advancing Human Rights: Update on Global Foundation Grantmaking also highlights key changes in foundation giving between 2013 and 2014. To control for year-to-year variations in the data set, this comparison draws from a subset of 579 funders whose grants were included in the research for both 2013 and 2014. Among this matched subset, total grant dollars forhuman rights rose by 2 percent and the number of grants increased by 11 percent.

"Blueprint 2017" is an annual industry forecast about the ways we use private resources for public benefit. It provides an overview of the current landscape, points to major trends, and directs your attention to horizons where you can expect some important breakthroughs in the coming year.

This is the third edition of the annual publication Measuring the State of Disaster Philanthropy: Data to Drive Decisions. This report analyzes funding for disasters and humanitarian crises in 2014, the most recent year for which comprehensive data are available. The report examines funding from U.S. foundations, bilateral and multilateral donors, corporations, and smaller donors who give through online platforms.

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